Cadmium in organs

Mbileni, C., Ngobeni, P., Katskov, D. A., and Panichev, N., Determination of Lead and Cadmium in Organic Solutions by Electrothermal Atomic Absoiption Spectrometry with a Transverse Heated Filter Atomizer, Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, Vol. 17, 2002, pp. 236-241. 

Batley and Farrah [ 120] and Gardner and Yates [118] used ozone to decompose organic matter in samples and thus break down metal complexes prior to atomic absorption spectrometry. By this treatment, metal complexes of humic acid and EDTA were broken down in less than 2 min. These observations led Gardner and Yates [ 118 ] to propose the following method for the determination of cadmium in seawater. 

In similar work, Sturgeon et al. [125] compared direct furnace methods with extraction methods for cadmium in coastal seawater samples. They could measure cadmium down to 0.1 pg/1. They used 10 pg/1 ascorbic acid as a matrix modifier. Various organic matrix modifiers were studied by Guevremont [116] for this analysis. He found citric acid to be somewhat preferable to EDTA, aspartic acid, lactic acid, and histidine. The method of standard additions was required. The standard deviation was better than 0.01 pg/1 in a seawater sample containing 0.07 pg/1. Generally, he charred at 300 °C and atomised at 1500 °C. This method required compromise between char and atomisation temperatures, sensitivity, heating rates, and so on, but the analytical results seemed precise and accurate. Nitrate added as sodium nitrate delayed the cadmium peak and suppressed the cadmium signal. 

Electrothermal atomic absorption spectrophotometry with Zeeman background correction was used by Zhang et al. [141] for the determination of cadmium in seawater. Citric acid was used as an organic matrix modifier and was found to be more effective than EDTA or ascorbic acid. The organic matrix modifier reduced the interferences from salts and other trace metals and gave a linear calibration curve for cadmium at concentrations < 1.6 pg/1. The method has a limit of detection of 0.019 pg/1 of cadmium and recoveries of 95-105% at the 0.2 pg of cadmium level. 

Biological half times of cadmium in humans is lengthy. Based on body burden and excretion data, cadmium may remain in the human body for 13 to 47 years. Although cadmium is excreted primarily in urine and feces, it tends to increase in concentration with the age of the organism and eventually acts as a cumulative poison (Hammons et al. 1978). These phenomena have not been documented adequately in wildlife species. 

Kumada, H., S. Kimura, and M. Yokote, and Y. Matida. 1973. Acute and chronic toxicity, uptake and retention of cadmium in freshwater organisms. Bull. Freshwater Fish. Res. Lab. (Tokyo) 22 157-165. 

Chromium has proved effective in counteracting the deleterious effects of cadmium in rats and of vanadium in chickens. High mortality rates and testicular atrophy occurred in rats subjected to an intraperitoneal injection of cadmium salts however, pretreatment with chromium ameliorated these effects (Stacey et al. 1983). The Cr-Cd relationship is not simple. In some cases, cadmium is known to suppress adverse effects induced in Chinese hamster (Cricetus spp.) ovary cells by Cr (Shimada et al. 1998). In southwestern Sweden, there was an 80% decline in chromium burdens in liver of the moose (Alces alces) between 1982 and 1992 from 0.21 to 0.07 mg Cr/kg FW (Frank et al. 1994). During this same period in this locale, moose experienced an unknown disease caused by a secondary copper deficiency due to elevated molybdenum levels as well as chromium deficiency and trace element imbalance (Frank et al. 1994). In chickens (Gallus sp.), 10 mg/kg of dietary chromium counteracted adverse effects on albumin metabolism and egg shell quality induced by 10 mg/kg of vanadium salts (Jensen and Maurice 1980). Additional research on the beneficial aspects of chromium in living resources appears warranted, especially where the organism is subjected to complex mixtures containing chromium and other potentially toxic heavy metals. 

Doganoc, D.Z. and K.S. Gacnik. 1995. Lead and cadmium in meat and organs of game in Slovenia. Bull. 

Hill, R.J. (1996). Risks to humans - an overview, in Sources of Cadmium in the Environment. Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Paris, pp. 84-94. 

---